MAKE 
JESUS KING 

AND OTHER , 
MESSAGES 

> TO MEN 



J.W.MAHOOD 




wmm 




Class. 

Book 
Copyrights 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Make Jesus King 



AND OTHER 



Messages to Men 



J. W> MAHOOD, D.D. 

i 

Author of The Art of Soul Winning, The Victory Life, Etc. 




NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS 
CINCINNATI: JENNINGS & GRAHAM 






Fwo Gooles R 

AUG 29 l^Oa 






1L- 



Copyright, 1908, by 
EATON & MAINS. 



TO 

MY BROTHERS 

THIS BOOK 

IS 

LOVINGLY DEDICATED 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Make Jesus King 1 

Man Immortal 21 

The Supreme Question 45 

The Infallible Guidebook 65 

Men's Excuses 83 

Betraying Christ 97 



FOREWORDS 

Lord Beaconsfield once said, "The 
hope of England is in her young men." 
This may be said of our own country. 
The hope of America is in her young 
men. If we can have in this land of 
the free a generation of pure-hearted, 
high-souled, far-visioned, Christian 
young men, then we shall have a pure 
and noble citizenship. 



And } r oung men are coming to recog- 
nize that the Christian life is the only 
manly life. It appeals to the highest 
and noblest faculties of mind and heart. 
Mr. Gladstone declared that during 
nearly half a century of public life he 
had come in contact with sixty of the 
master minds of the world, and all 
were Christians but seven. And Lord 
Kelvin, the great scientist, said, "The 
vii 



FOKEWOKDS 

greatest discovery I ever made was 
when I discovered Jesus Christ as mv 
Saviour." 



The Christian life is the normal life. 
No man can be at his best until the 
Spirit of God touches his heart and 
quickens his thought. There are 
heaven-born faculties and God-given 
powers that will forever lie dormant 
unless the heart's door be thrown open 
to Him who is the Light of the World. 
That some men may be helped to see 
the nobility and responsibility of the 
Christian life these messages are 
written. 



Vlll 



MAKE JESUS KING 



MAKE JESUS KING 

"King of kings, and Lord of lords" 

There is one triumph that is abso- 
lutely sure. The kingdom of Jesus 
Christ shall } r et prevail. But the spirit 
of antichrist is now at work. Some 
men who once jdelded allegiance to the 
Son of God are now betraying him — 
betraying him by neglect, by silence, 
by compromise, by denial of his divine 
personality and sovereignty. And he, 
whose blood right it is to reign in 
human hearts, is being dethroned and 
robbed of his regal authority. Shall 
we depose him too? Or shall we en- 
throne him who is "Lord of all"? 
Every man has the power to put 
Christ upon the throne of his life, or 
to keep that throne for another king. 

Who Rules? 

Augustine, in his Confessions, tells 
an incident of his experience as a 



MAKE JESUS KING 

young lawyer. He was so fascinated 
with the study of Cicero's Orations 
that he became quite Ciceronian in his 
tastes and ambitions. One day he had 
a dream in which he thought himself 
seeking admission at the gate of 
heaven. The angel standing there 
said ; "Who are you?" "Augustine of 
Milan," replied the young lawyer. 
"What are you?" said the angel. "A 
Christian," answered Augustine. "O, 
no," said the angel, "you are not a 
Christian; you are a Ciceronian." 
Whereupon the dreamer demanded an 
explanation. Said the angel: "They 
who are here are judged by what 
dominated their lives upon earth. In 
you, Augustine, not the Christ of the 
gospels, but the Cicero of Roman 
jurisprudence, was the dominating 
force. You cannot enter here." Au- 
gustine was so startled that he awak- 
ened and resolved that henceforth 
Christ, and not Cicero, should rule in 
his life. 



MAKE JESUS KING 

Every heart has its king. Every 
life is ruled by some scepter. Some- 
times an evil passion is in control; 
sometimes an unholy appetite; some- 
times a worldly ambition; sometimes a 
besetting sin. Who rules in your life? 
Is it some worldly sovereign, or is it the 
imperial Christ? 

Now, the heart is the throne room of 
the life. That is why the wise man 
said, "Keep thy heart with all dili- 
gence; for out of it are the issues of 
life." There Christ wants to reign. 
Sin has reigned there, and by nature 
"the heart is deceitful above all things, 
and desperately wicked." Only Christ 
can subdue and cleanse it. But the 
heart is the seat of the intellect, the 
emotions, and the will. Therefore his 
sovereignty should extend over all 
these. 

The Intellect 

Make Jesus king in the intellectual 
life. We are living in a time of great 
intensity in this realm. And nowhere 



MAKE JESUS KING 

is the spirit of inquiry more intense 
than in matters theological. Modern 
investigation would apply the micro- 
scope to every stone in the foundations 
of revealed religion. And that is right, 
provided there is reverent approach 
and a true lens. But when we look 
from a wrong angle, or with dimmed 
vision, or with a nature developed only 
on one side, the intellect cannot be 
trusted. When men with no spiritual 
perception assume to be authoritative 
teachers in the highest spiritual things, 
when speculation runs riot in the tem- 
ple of God, then the intellectual should 
be halted and reminded of its limita- 
tions. Let us have the very best that 
history and archaeology can give us. 
Let them shed every ray of light that 
may be possible upon the Word of 
God. Let scholarship dedicate its 
keenest minds to the service of Chris- 
tian philosophy. But this know : there 
is only one thing that will keep these 
uncertain natures of ours steady in the 



MAKE JESUS KING 

conflict of modern thought, and that is 
to put Jesus on the throne of the in- 
tellect. 

Education Not Enough 

The materialistic tendency of the 
age has perverted our educational 
ideals, and some are forgetting that 
great foundation truth, "The fear of 
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." 
Let this be forgotten and the inevit- 
able trend of life is toward irreverence 
for sacred things, and then toward 
bacchanalian riot and hoodlumism. It 
cannot be denied that in many of our 
state institutions and secular colleges 
there is to-day a strong tide toward 
viciousness and immorality among 
students. Many parents, too, are so 
far forgetful of their responsibility for 
the spiritual life of their children as to 
send them to colleges where drunken- 
ness and gambling and licentiousness 
are tolerated by the authorities, and 
where little or no attention is paid to 



MAKE JESUS KING 

morals, to say nothing about spiritual 
culture. The faculties of these institu- 
tions are sometimes filled with men 
who have no respect for the church of 
Christ, who "crucify to themselves the 
Son of God afresh, and put him to an 
open shame," and who speak of the 
Bible as a worn-out book "to be read 
only by scholars as they read Chaucer 
or Spenser as an example of literary 
style." Is it any wonder, therefore, 
that there are so many college-bred 
young men who make shipwreck of 
life, and whose parents die with broken 
hearts? "Educate children without re- 
ligion," said Lord Wellington, "and 
you make a race of clever devils." A 
missionary in Alaska has sent home 
this statement: "I know many college- 
bred men who are now saloon keepers, 
barkeepers, gamblers, hangers-on, and 
stokers for saloons. The worst savages 
I have ever known, the most filthy, 
hopeless, irreclaimable savages, were 
educated, college-bred men from Chris- 



MAKE JESUS KING 

tian communities." Young men may 
have the very best that the colleges and 
universities can give in the way of in- 
tellectual training, and yet, if Jesus 
Christ is not given the supreme place 
in their lives, they may become in- 
fidels, apostates, or criminals. 

Reaping the Whirlwind 

From New York city a wealthy man 
went down to Auburn prison to see his 
son, who was taken there that very 
day to begin a life sentence. That 
young man was a graduate of Columbia 
University, and, shortly after gradua- 
tion, had committed a crime for which 
he was sentenced to prison. With the 
handcuffs on his wrists he was brought 
into the warden's private office. The 
heartbroken father threw his arms 
about his boy's neck and wept like a 
child. When the brief visit was almost 
over the father begged a lock of the 
boy's hair for his crippled mother, who 
was not able to come to the prison. 



MAKE JESUS KING 

The warden clipped off a little curl 
and handed it to the aged man. He 
stroked it tenderly in the palm of his 
hand, while the tears rained down his 
face, and said, "Is it possible that this 
is all I can command of my own boy? 
I would gladly give every dollar I am 
worth if I could forget the last five 
years and have him back again so that 
I could call him my own boy." When 
parents neglect the spiritual training 
of their children, and boys and young 
men are sent to schools where the 
social and moral influences lead away 
from Christ and the better life, they 
need not be surprised if they reap 
the whirlwind. It is only when Christ 
has the supreme place in the heart that 
the intellectual life will find its fullest 
and truest development, and the young 
men of our colleges be saved from 
moral ruin. 

The Will 

The will is imperial in human nature. 

It is therefore the starting point for a 
10 



MAKE JESUS KING 

true Christian life. The "I will" must 
be spoken by every prodigal before he 
finds his way home. Indeed, as the 
will is, so is the life. If the will has 
been weakened or made stubborn by 
sin there is no surer indication of 
weakened character. No man is on safe 
ground until his will is conformed to 
the will of God. And it is only by our 
maintaining this attitude of will to- 
ward God that he can work in us "to 
will and to do of his good pleasure." 
George Macdonald makes one of his 
characters to say: "She was complain- 
ing of the providence with which God 
was dealing with her, and she said, 'I 
wish I had never been made/ And her 
friend said, 'My dear friend, you are 
not made yet, you are being made, and 
you are quarreling with God's proc- 
esses/ " It is only when the will is 
submitted fully to God that he can 
bring the life to its full fruition. 

There is no more reliable attest to a 

well-rounded Christian character than 
11 



MAKE JESUS KING 

the complete submission of the will to 
God. Contrary to the popular notion, 
however, the submission of the will 
does not mean the giving up of the will, 
or the weakening of the will. Christ 
strengthens the will, makes the will 
free. Sin weakens and enslaves the 
will, and thus unfits a man to serve at 
his best in any honorable vocation. A 
vacillating will spells failure in profes- 
sional life and in commercial life. Many 
a business man might easily trace his 
reverses to a gradual weakening of the 
will through neglect of duty, or through 
disobedience to God, thus inviting 
deadly assault by some besetting sin. 

The only safe course, therefore, for 
the Christian man is to make Jesus 
king over the will. Let the will be 
kept by God and filled by God. Then 
will the life be safeguarded against the 
flood tide of temptation, and strength- 
ened to resist every evil onslaught of 
heredity or environment. 



12 



MAKE JESUS KING 

"Thy Will Be Done" 

There are some who seem to think 
that submission of the will to God 
means sorrow or suffering; but that is 
a mistake. It is preparation against 
an evil hour. To be sure, that hour 
will come. But even in the dark hour 
of sorrow the soul of him whose will is 
conformed to the will of God will be 
at peace. He will be able to say, "Thy 
will bfe done." Standing beside the 
casket that held the remains of his wife, 
killed in a railway accident, Com- 
mander Booth-Tucker, of the Salva- 
tion Army, lifted up his voice and said : 
"My friends, God has taken away my 
darling wife and left me with these 
motherless children; but I want to 
say that God was never nearer to me 
than he is now, and Christ was never 
dearer to me than he is now." There 
was complete submission in the hour 
of supreme sorrow. Make Jesus king 
over the will. Then shall the will be 

13 



MAKE JESUS KING 

free and strong and restful; then shall 
bitterness be turned into blessed resig- 
nation; then shall the life be girdled 
with strength and beauty; and we shall 
"run and not be weary, and walk and 
not faint. " 

The Emotions 

And if Christ reign over the intellect 
and over the will we must also give 
him supremacy over the emotions, for 
the emotions are most fundamental. 
Feeling lies at the very basis of con- 
sciousness, and so has its inevitable 
and intimate influence upon thought 
and will in every life. And while mod- 
ern psychologists are agreed that in- 
tellect and feeling and will all unite in 
every conscious act of life, and that 
the unity of the mind is unmistakable, 
it must be admitted too that the emo- 
tions play a very important part on 
the stage of human action. 

The emotions are much like electrical 
currents in that when they are turned 
into right channels they bring light and 

14 



MAKE JESUS KI^G 

power and healing; but when unre- 
strained and unguided they become 
instruments of destruction and death. 

Now, sin is the anarchist in the realm 
of the soul. Sin stirs up evil passions, 
and encourages self-indulgence and 
worldly ambition. Sin degrades, en- 
slaves, and finally destroys the noblest 
qualities of manhood. But the pres- 
ence of Christ liberates, ennobles, trans- 
forms, and glorifies. Sin leads the 
emotions into an unholy riot that 
results at last in deadened sensibility. 
The grace of Jesus Christ sanctifies and 
uplifts every heaven-born faculty, and 
marshals them all in mighty phalanx 
against every power of evil. Indeed, 
there are graces and faculties in these 
God-created natures of ours of which 
we shall never be conscious until Christ 
takes control. 

In one of her poems Frances Ridley 
Havergal tells of receiving from a 
friend a beautiful harp as a present. 
In her eagerness to try her skill, how- 

15 



MAKE JESUS KING 

ever, she glanced hastily over the note 
that accompanied it, and did not notice 
that it was an seolian harp. When she 
had tried to make music with it and 
had failed she put it down, disap- 
pointed. But when she read the note 
more carefully she discovered that it 
was not for her rough fingers to bring 
out its melodies. She lifted the win- 
dow sash and placed it underneath, 
and soon as the breezes of heaven 
began fingering the delicate strings of 
the instrument the room was filled with 
beautiful strains of music. There are 
heaven-born emotions in these natures 
of ours that will forever lie dormant 
unless the Son of God shall touch them 
by his Spirit and wake them into joy- 
ous melody. 

Over the Whole Life 

Sometimes the purpose of life is di- 
vided and we give to God only a half- 
hearted service. But J. Hudson Taylor 

was right when he said, "If he is not 

is 



MAKE JESUS KING 

Lord over all, he is not Lord at all." 
Dr. H. Grattan Guinness calls atten- 
tion to the contrast between the two 
great African rivers. The Congo is 
seven miles wide at its mouth and dis- 
charges into the Atlantic Ocean one 
million tons of water every second — a 
majestic stream. But the Niger is del- 
taic and has forty different mouths. 
The life that is deltaic does not make 
much of an impression. It is the life 
with a single aim, with an overmaster- 
ing purpose, that leaves its impress 
upon the world. When Christ is all in 
all, then the Christian life takes on 
true majesty. 

John Ruskin says that there are 
some who would give Jesus the best 
rooms in their homes, and the best 
seats in the halls of commerce, if only 
they can keep a little place in the 
kitchen or the cellar, or a three-legged 
stool in the counting house, for the 
devil. But Jesus Christ will not be 
satisfied with any such arrangement. 

17 



MAKE JESUS KING 

He must rule the whole house; he 
must reign over the whole empire of 
the life; he must be king over every 
part of the nature. There must be 
unconditional surrender to him. There- 
fore our prayer should be, "Unite my 
heart to fear thy name." 

Over Other Lives 

Having enthroned him in our own 
hearts, we must then seek to enthrone 
him in other lives. Many are living in 
rebellion against him. Many others 
are indifferent to his commands. This 
is treason of the most dangerous type. 
But he waits to forgive. Now that we 
have surrendered to him, at once he 
commissions us his ambassadors, and 
sends us to others with his message of 
mercy. Every unsaved man is a rebel 
fortress which we must claim for the 
King. See what Savonarola did in 
Florence. He claimed the city for 
Christ. He thundered against sin. He 
rebuked iniquity in high places. He 

18 



MAKE JESUS KING 

preached Christ crucified. In the name 
of Christ he defied the wicked Medicean 
despot. He transformed Florence, and 
literally enthroned Jesus, inscribing 
over the doors of the Palazzo Vecchio, 
"King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. 5 9 
And what Savonarola did in Florence 
we may do in human hearts all about 
us. By our consistent living, by our 
fidelity to the right, by our interest in 
every good work, by faithful witnessing 
for Christ we may 

MAKE JESUS KING 



19 



MAN IMMORTAL 



MAN IMMORTAL 

"If a man die, shall he live again ?" 

The universe throbs with life. There 
are no dead worlds. In all the vast 
expanse of space there is not a star 
that has not felt the touch of the great 
Creator's hand, nor one that does not 
pursue its changeless path at his word. 

In reason's ear they all rejoice, 
And utter forth a glorious voice; 
Forever singing as they shine, 
"The hand that made us is divine." 

In the higher realm of being I see now 
only human beings. But could the 
shutters of mortality be thrown back 
from these windows of the soul I 
might see the ministering spirits of 
God ; and could the earthy wadding be 
removed from these ears I might hear 
the music of the skies. 

And yet, if there is any problem of 
the ages, surely this is it, "If a man 
die, shall he live again?" My life is 

23 



MAN IMMOETAL 

limited and imprisoned. I struggle on 
a few brief years in the dark, and then 
I go down to the grave. Do I? Or do 
I go outward and upward? Does my 
sphere of vision enlarge? And having 
fled this earthly house, do I come into 
a better habitation — "a house not 
made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens"? This is the question that 
puzzled Job, and doubtless will con- 
tinue to puzzle human thought until 
that day when death shall be driven 
into eternal exile. 

Reverent Approach 

It is not the purpose of this message 
to venture upon any metaphysical or 
abstract discussion concerning the im- 
mortality of the soul; but rather to call 
attention to some of the plain, practi- 
cal, authoritative evidences of a life 
beyond, and emphasize the wisdom of 
making preparation for such a life. 

And we should be reverent here. 
For, after all, science knows nothing 

24 



MAN IMMORTAL 

more about the origin of life than about 
its perpetuity. Biological chemistry 
has assured us again and again that the 
secret of the origin of life was just 
about to be discovered. But every- 
body knows that the spontaneous gen- 
eration and other abiogenesis theories 
have come to naught; and the specula- 
tion once advanced by a great scientist 
that the germs of life were transmitted 
from other worlds to this through space 
is now laughed at as a wild hypothesis. 
Science cannot offer a single reasonable 
explanation of the origin of lif e, neither 
can it produce a scintilla of evidence 
that the soul is not immortal. John 
Stuart Mill, that keen-eyed skeptic, 
admitted this. To be sure, in later 
years science has done much to lay 
bare the secrets of nature, but with all 
its triumphs it is yet very fallible. 
Indeed, it is doubtful whether science, 
even in this modern day, can furnish 
us with any knowledge concerning the 
material world which is absolutely free 

25 



MAN IMMOKTAL 

from all possibility of doubt. In- 
variably it must fall back on certain 
fundamental hypotheses. 

Two Misleading Assertions 

It might be well in the first place to 
call attention to two blatant assertions 
often made by thoughtless persons, and 
sometimes used to beguile the unwary : 

1. That it makes no difference what a 
man believes. A man takes a dose of 
strychnine thinking it to be quinine. 
Does it make no difference? Another 
man eats toadstools believing them to 
be mushrooms. Does it make no dif- 
ference? Such a theory puts truth and 
falsehood on a level. Because a crimi- 
nal believes he has a right to commit a 
crime is no reason why the law should 
excuse him. "Unsound thinking is the 
basis of unsound acting," says one. 
The doctrine that it makes no difference 
what a man believes was born in hell. 

2. That every belief must answer at 
the bar of reason. "All things must be 

26 



MAN IMMORTAL 

demonstrated/ ' they say, or, "We can 
believe only what we can see and reason 
out for ourselves." But this is a very 
dangerous platform for any intelligent 
man to stand on. An old Quaker met 
a young man in whom he was inter- 
ested, and who had just returned from 
college, "How is thee getting along 
spiritually?" said the old man. "O, 
Fve given up all that nonsense," said 
the young fellow. "I do not believe 
anything that I have not seen for my- 
self or that others have not seen." 
"Young man," said the Quaker, "has 
thee ever seen thy brains?" "No." 
"Does thee believe thee has any?" 

The man who tries to carry this 
theory into his everyday life will have 
a serious time, for there are a hundred 
mysteries in his physical life just as 
profound as the mysteries of religion. 
No man can truthfully say that all his 
beliefs answer at the bar of reason, and 
reason is not the highest court in a 
man's nature, by any means. What 

27 



MAN" IMMORTAL 

would be thought of a man who would 
say, "E very thing must be proven by 
the naked eye." Then telescopes and 
microscopes would be no longer neces- 
sary. But just as well say that as to 
say that everything must be known 
by reason. Faith is reason's telescope. 
The naked eye goes so far; faith goes 
infinitely farther. Faith makes real 
what reason cannot make real. Faith 
rests not on the evidence of sense, but 
upon the evidence of the soul. "Faith," 
says the apostle, "is assurance of things 
hoped for, a conviction of things not 
seen." 

The Supeeme Authority 

The inspired Word of God is the su- 
preme authority concerning the souPs 
immortality, for it is the revelation of 
the Creator of all things. What does 
the Bible say about the life beyond? 

"Thou shalt guide me with thy coun- 
sel, and afterward receive me to glory" 
(Psa. 73. 24). 

"And these shall go away into eternal 

28 



MAN IMMORTAL 

punishment: but the righteous into 
eternal life" (Matt. 25. 46). 

"Marvel not at this: for the hour 
cometh, in which all that are in the 
tombs shall hear his voice, and shall 
come forth; they that have done good, 
unto the resurrection of life; and they 
that have done evil, unto the resur- 
rection of judgment" (John 5. 28, 29). 

"But hath now been manifested by 
the appearing of our Saviour Christ 
Jesus, who abolished death, and 
brought life and immortality to light 
through the gospel" (2 Tim. 1. 10). 

"For this corruptible must put on 
incorruption, and this mortal must put 
on immortality" (1 Cor. 15. 53). 

"For indeed we that are in this taber- 
nacle do groan, being burdened; not 
for that we would be unclothed, but 
that we would be clothed upon, that 
what is mortal may be swallowed up 
of life" (2 Cor. 5.4). 

"He shall receive ... in the world 
to come eternal life" (Mark 10. 30). 

29 



MAN IMMORTAL 

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent 
in the wilderness, even so must the 
Son of man be lifted up; that whoso- 
ever believeth may in him have eternal 
life" (John 3. 14, 15). 

"He that eateth my flesh and drink- 
eth my blood hath eternal life; and I 
will raise him up at the last day" 
(John 6. 54). 

"And I give unto them eternal life" 
(John 10. 28). 

"The free gift of God is eternal life 
in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 6. 23). 

"And the witness is this, that God 
gave unto us eternal life, and this life 
is in his Son" (1 John 5. 11). 

Theee Great Facts 

Now, there are three great facts that 
shed light upon these scriptures. They 
are mentioned because they should ap- 
peal strongly to thoughtful men: 

1. The conscious individuality of the 
spirit apart from the body. This body 
is not I. I am no more dependent upon 

30 



MAX IMMORTAL 

this body for existence than Ole Bull 
or Paganini was dependent upon one 
violin. This body is the instrument of 
the immortal spirit. Every thoughtful 
man admits that consciousness is not a 
function of matter. Every man feels 
within a power totally distinct from 
his body. He fears, he sorrows, he re- 
joices, he despairs. And notwithstand- 
ing the constant change of the compo- 
nent properties of the body, conscious 
identity abides from youth to age. 
You have not the same body you had 
ten years ago, yet you are the same 
man. You have preserved your own 
permanent personality. Even the 
whole brain has changed, but memory 
abides. 

We are spirits clad in veils; 

Man by man was never seen: 
All our deep communing fails 

To remove the shadowy screen. 

2. The state of the mind in dying. 
When the body is in the last stages 
of weakness and decay the mind is 

31 



MAN IMMOETAL 

often left in full possession of its un- 
diminished spiritual force. Men like 
Gladstone, Milton, Angelo, Humboldt, 
Beethoven, and Hugo all retained their 
mental vigor in old age. These men 
all felt that they had only done a small 
part of what they wanted to do. The 
body began to fall into decay, but the 
mental power remained. And often in 
the throes of physical dissolution the 
soul has been known to assert its in- 
dependent spiritual being, and declare 
that there is no death. 

There seems to be an impression 
abroad to-day that psychological sci- 
ence precludes the separate existence 
of the spirit, but that distinguished 
psychologist, Professor James, declares 
that there is no scientific reason for 
denying the independent reality of the 
spirit, neither is there any scientific 
reason for denying the possibility of 
continued existence after separation 
from the body. In Mammoth Cave, as 
we glided down the river Styx in a 

32 



MAN IMMORTAL 

boat, the walls of the cavern came 
down so close that we had to crouch 
down to keep from striking our heads 
on the roof of rock. Presently we left 
the boat. The river disappeared under 
the rock. Up to the moment of dis- 
appearance the river ran swiftly. Now, 
nobody was foolish enough to say that 
after the river disappeared there was 
no river. And if in the moment of 
dying we find reason and conscience 
and love and imagination still strong, 
will anyone say that life does not go 
on? 

3. The belief of the raee in a future 
state. In every human heart may be 
found that longing for immortality 
which must have its answer in the 
plan of the eternal God. People of all 
ages, in various stages of civilization, 
have believed in a future state. Egyp- 
tians, Persians, Babylonians, Gauls, 
and Mohammedans all have their 
heaven. The Arabs tie a camel at the 
grave, and the Greenlanders bury a 

33 



MAN IMMOETAL 

dog with their dead, thinking that the 
dog will find the way to the happy 
hunting grounds. Some men of science 
insist that the human race is more than 
a hundred thousand years old, but if 
it is there seems to be ample evidence 
that the prehistoric tribes of earth be- 
lieved in immortality. They buried 
trinkets and utensils in the graves of 
their dead for their use in another 
world. Through the long ages of the 
past the human race has ever held to 
the belief that the soul is immortal. 
Some exceptions there have been, to 
be sure, but they have been such as 
pre-eminently prove the rule — a few 
philosophers, so called, who have "rea- 
soned themselves out of all hope of 
immortality/ ' and a few of the lower 
tribes of Kaffirs and Hottentots. And 
this universal instinct is to thoughtful 
men a strong argument in favor of 
immortality. 



34 



MAN IMMORTAL 

Three Other Great Facts 

Then there are three other great 
facts that are undeniable, and chal- 
lenge the attention of the thoughtful: 

1. Doubt debases, while faith in the fu- 
ture life enlarges and glorifies manhood. 
Nineteen twentieths of the world's 
intellectual giants have believed in the 
immortality of the soul, and have 
worshiped God. The American Asso- 
ciation of Science represents the highest 
culture and education. At a recent 
annual meeting seventy-two per cent 
of the members present were found to 
be active Christians. A few years ago 
the British Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science met in Montreal, 
and it was found that three fourths of 
those present were professing Chris- 
tians, and a daily prayer meeting was 
held in connection with their sessions. 
Nearly all the great leaders of the 
world's thought have held to the im- 
mortality of the soul. To be sure, we 

35 



MAN IMMOETAL 

have had some men of intellect and 
talent who were doubters. But what 
did doubt do for them? In the realm 
of English literature, for instance, we 
have had three poets who are known 
as unbelievers. But Shelley and Byron 
were anarchists in morals, and rebels 
against much that we count dearest 
and best in life. Unbridled passion 
chained them to the earth. Matthew 
Arnold was a gloomy pessimist whose 
life seemed one long wail of despair. 
By nature these men were gifted, but 
when they put God out of their lives 
the higher, nobler attributes of man- 
hood shriveled and died. 

In the realm of science look at Dar- 
win. What did doubt do for him? 
Hear his own confession: "My mind 
seems to have become a kind of 
machine for grinding general laws out 
of large collections of facts/ ' He 
makes the frank statement that he 
had lost the sense of beauty, art, and 
music, and also the sense of the spirit- 

36 



MAN IMMORTAL 

ual and infinite through lifelong devo- 
tion to material facts. In consequence 
his higher nature died of atrophy. And 
so gradual was the loss of soul sense 
that he had no struggle over its de- 
cline. He allowed himself to be so 
engrossed in material things that the 
spiritual part of his nature withered 
away. We see the same thing in many 
men to-day. They allow their time 
and attention to be so taken up with 
the facts pertaining to their business 
or profession that the spiritual nature 
dies of neglect. Lawyers spend all 
their time on books of law; physicians 
spend all their time on books of medi- 
cine; teachers spend all their time on 
text-books. Then they wake up some 
day to wonder why they have no 
spiritual appreciation. But why should 
they wonder? God's Word has been 
neglected; prayer has been neglected; 
the spiritual nature has been starved. 
Then doubt finds easy entrance. 

In the Alleghanies a hunter shot a 

37 



MAN IMMOKTAL 

large bald eagle. He found that the 
eagle's clav^s were held firmly in a 
steel trap. The trap and chain bore 
marks of vicious blows from the eagle's 
bill; and while he had been able to fly 
he had been so hindered and wearied 
by the heavy trap that he came within 
reach of the hunter's rifle. It is so 
with many a man. He has the brain 
power and heart power fit for high 
altitudes of thought and usefulness, 
but doubt is the weight that holds him 
down. 

Doubt has the same effect on nations 
as on individuals. When the people of 
any nation give up their hope and 
longing for immortality they become 
beastly in their lives. Look at France 
before the Revolution. Men said, 
'There is no God, and death is an 
eternal sleep." Then France became a 
hell upon earth. The streets of Paris 
ran red with blood. In alarm the 
leaders called a convention and sent 
out this declaration: "The French na- 

38 



MAX IMMORTAL 

tion believes in God and in a future 
state. " Social and national degenera- 
tion has always followed in the foot- 
steps of doubt. 

2. In the supreme hour of a man's life 
doubt always fails. Heine, the great 
German physician and philosopher, 
after many years of widely proclaimed 
unbelief, said: 'The divine homesick- 
ness came upon me. I rushed to my 
room; closed the door; fell upon my 
knees, and prayed for strength and 
courage and joy. I am now happy 
wdth my God. Prayer hath done this." 
Professor Mhegard, of the University 
of Copenhagen, said: "Full of faith in 
the sufficiency of science, I thought to 
have found it a refuge from all the 
contingencies of life. This illusion is 
vanished. When the tempest came 
which plunged me in sorrow, the moor- 
ings of the cable of science broke like 
a thread. Then I seized upon the help 
that manj^ before me had laid hold of. 
I sought and found peace in God. 

39 



MAN IMMOETAL 

Since then I have certainly not aban- 
doned science, but I have assigned it to 
another place in my life." Contrast 
the dying utterances of such blas- 
phemers as Voltaire and Paine with 
those of the men who have found 
Christ and died in the triumphs of the 
Christian faith, and see how doubt 
utterly fails in the death hour, while 
faith in the future life brings comfort 
and help. The hour of death is the hour 
of darkness for the skeptic, but the 
hour of victory for the true Christian. 
3. The resurrection of Christ. Fifteen 
hundred years after Job asked this 
question, "If a man die shall he live 
again," there came to earth One who 
was the Son of God. His coming had 
been foretold for thousands of years. 
He came with the cross upon his 
shoulder and the thorns upon his brow. 
He said, "He that liveth and believeth 
in me shall never die." He was cruci- 
fied and buried. The third day he rose 
again. There is no fact of ancient his- 

40 



MAX, IMMORTAL 

tory that rests upon more substantial 
evidence than the fact that Christ 
rose from the dead. Through fifteen 
hundred years men have tried to dis- 
prove it, but all their efforts have been 
in vain. This great truth grows 
brighter with the passing years, and 
is an undeniable evidence of the im- 
mortality of man. For He who is 
risen has "brought life and immortality 
to light through the gospel." And, 
indeed, "only through the resurrection 
of Christ from the dead could God 
demonstrate his possession of, and his 
ability to bestow 7 , immortality." 

The Divine Guide 

Standing then as w r e do upon the 
threshold of another world, it is surely 
the part of wisdom to make prepara- 
tion for that life beyond. If you w T ere 
going to Palestine or Australia to- 
morrow you would surely want to look 
up routes and make ready for the 
journey. That man is a fool who does 

41 



MAN* IMMOETAL 

not. The Bible points out the only- 
safe way into eternity. Christ must be 
our Guide. To go without him is to 
lose the way and stumble into eternal 
darkness. Some years ago a party of 
young people determined to climb 
Mount Washington alone. The pro- 
prietor of the hotel urged them to 
take a guide, saying he would give 
them one for half price. But they re- 
fused. Then he said, "It is dangerous; 
I will give you a guide free." "O, no," 
they said, "we are going to do some- 
thing to astonish our friends." "But 
what if you get caught in a snow- 
storm?" said the landlord. "O, that 
will be lovely!" said the young ladies; 
"we will snowball each other." They 
started with light hearts. They had 
gone a few miles when they saw a 
white cloud above them. Soon they 
were in the snowstorm. "Isn't this 
fun?" they said. But soon the snow 
covered the path. They said, "O, I 
wish we had a guide now." They 

42 



MAN IMMORTAL 

struggled on, but were soon lost. Two 
ladies sank down unable to go further. 
They waited for daylight and a rescue 
party, but, when they were found, one 
young lady was frozen to death. No 
man can find the way to life and 
heaven without Christ the Divine 
Guide. 



43 






"■S^ 






THE SUPREME QUESTION 



THE SUPREME QUESTION 

"What think ye of Christ?" 

This must become a personal ques- 
tion to every man who has heard the 
gospel message. When the testimony 
of the witnesses has been given, then 
every man must answer for himself. 
And everything depends upon the an- 
swer both for time and for eternity. 
"What think ye of Christ?" is the 
supreme question of human life, for 
"there is none other name under 
heaven given among men, whereby we 
must be saved"; and "he that be- 
lieveth on him is not condemned: but 
he that believeth not is condemned 
already, because he hath not believed 
in the name of the only begotten Son 
of God." 

Who was Christ? 

Men have much to say about what 
Christ said, and about what Christ 
did. That is important. But let us 

47 



THE SUPEEME QUESTION 

seek now an answer to this crowning 
question of all: Who was Christ? 
This is the starting point of all Chris- 
tian theology. Christianity rests upon 
the person of Christ. 

The reverent astronomer, looking up 
into the heavens, and studying the 
glory of the infinite spaces, sees the 
wonderful evidence of design and law 
and power manifest through all the 
galaxy of worlds, and stands amazed 
and speechless. Human thought stag- 
gers at even a glimpse of God's crea- 
tion. And it is so with some who 
come and stand in the presence of the 
Christ of Calvary, and think to account 
for him from a human standpoint. 

Evolution Cannot Answer 

The evolutionist comes into the 
presence of Christ and is speechless. 
A few years ago the hypothesis of 
evolution was supposed to account for 
everything that was. But now men 
are beginning to see that it is but a 

48 



THE SUPREME QUESTION 

philosophy of method that has its 
bounds — a theory that cannot be 
proven. "Regarded as a theory to 
account for life, evolution is the wildest 
folly," said Sir Robert Anderson. It 
does account for some things, but not 
for all. It may trace some stages in 
the life of the brute creation, and some 
utilitarian adaptations in nature, but 
it has yet to account for the fragrance 
of the rose, or for the mystery of music. 
It cannot bridge the abyss between 
death and life, much less can it ex- 
plain "the mystery of godliness, God 
manifest in the flesh." 

Philosophy Cannot Answer 

The philosopher, too, stands speech- 
less in the presence of Jesus Christ. At 
last men are learning that while we 
may study physical facts from a philo- 
sophical standpoint we cannot so un- 
derstand all spiritual truth. To look 
into the heights and depths of great 
spiritual truths we must have other 

49 



THE SUPREME QUESTION 

eyes than those of reason. Heart and 
conscience and will must have vision. 
"The natural man," says the apostle, 
"receiveth not the things of the Spirit 
of God: for they are foolishness unto 
him; and he cannot know them, be- 
cause they are spiritually discerned." 
And of no great spiritual fact is this 
more true than of that which pertains 
to the Godhead of Christ. 

Unitarianism Cannot Answer 

The Unitarian is speechless in the 
presence of this wonder-working Christ. 
The great Dr. Channing said: "The 
character of Jesus is wholly inexplic- 
able on human principles." Unitarian- 
ism has no place in the Christian econ- 
omy. It is not a Christian church. 
When Peter made that memorable con- 
fession, "Thou art the Christ, the Son 
of the living God," Jesus at once said, 
"Upon this rock" — this confession, this 
truth — "will I build my church." No 
organization has any right to call it- 

50 



THE SUPREME QUESTION 

self a Christian church that does not 
accept that confession. Nor has any 
man a right to the name of Christian 
who has not through the shed blood of 
the Lamb of God come into blessed 
fellowship with the Father. 

Of course, something depends upon 
the spirit with which a man approaches 
Christ. If he comes as a critic, or as a 
wise man, or as a self-willed Pharisee, 
it may be in place for him to speak of 
Christ as simply a good man and a 
prophet. If he comes saying, "I tha^k 
thee that I am not as other men; look 
at my honesty, my popularity, my 
righteousness/ ' he will remain a 
stranger to the Friend of sinners. But 
if he comes with sin-sick heart and sin- 
burdened soul, and, finding deliverance, 
begins to know the sweetness of pardon 
and the joy of service, then he will be 
ready to say: 

Jesus, thy blood and righteousness 
My beauty are, my glorious dress; 
'Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed, 
With joy shall I lift up my head. 
51 



THE SUPKEME QUESTION 

With this greatest of questions pressing 
for an answer let us come now to look 
at Christ from the standpoint of the 
four men who under the guidance of 
the Holy Spirit wrote the story of his 
life. By doing this we shall get the 
view the Holy Spirit intended — a view 
of the full-orbed life, and of the su- 
preme and transcendent character of 
the Divine Man. 

Saint Matthew's Answer 

"What think ye of Christ?" looking 
at him from the standpoint of prophecy? 
That was Matthew's viewpoint. Ac- 
cording to this gospel he was the hope 
of the ages, the promised Messiah, the 
desire of all nations. He was "the son 
of David, the son of Abraham"; and 
while of royal lineage, yet he was born 
of the Holy Spirit's power, and so 
must be the Divine One — "God with 
us." Matthew sees Jesus in the Old 
Testament; and we must see him there 
if we would get the true vision of his 

52 



THE SUPREME QUESTION 

glory. There are more than three 
hundred detailed predictions of the 
Christ in the Old Testament; and all 
this prophecy is so different from all 
other kinds of prediction as to make 
it unmistakably divine. Dr. A. T. 
Pierson says': "Philosophical histo- 
rians or statesmen may forecast na- 
tional convulsions or social revolu- 
tions by studying the annals of the 
past and watching the development 
of current events, but the predictions 
of the whole Bible are almost wholly 
outside the range of probability or 
precedent." 

It would be helpful to the man who 
wishes to see Christ from the stand- 
point of prophecy to study the various 
classes of Old Testament prophecy , and 
see how they emphasize in their ful- 
fillment the evidential value of the 
prophecies regarding the Messiah. 
There are the prophecies concerning the 
Jews, the Babylonian captivity, and the 
destruction of Jerusalem. Or, there are 

53 



THE SUPKEME QUESTION 

the prophecies concerning other na- 
tions than the Jews, such as the Ama- 
lekites, the Egyptians, the Assyrians; or 
the prophecies regarding the great cit- 
ies, such as Jerusalem, Tyre, Babylon, 
Nineveh. But the thoughtful student 
will soon discover that the Old Testa- 
ment has one theme, and that is re- 
demption; one subject, and that is the 
promised Redeemer. A great German 
Hebrew scholar likens the Old Testa- 
ment Messianic prophecies to three 
concentric circles. "The Mediator of 
salvation is made known (1) as the 
seed of the woman, who is the con- 
queror of evil in mankind; (2) as the 
seed of the patriarchs, who is the bless- 
ing of the nations; (3) as the seed of 
David, who is the salvation and glory 
of Israel." Jesus Christ is the perfect 
consummation of all these Messianic 
prophecies. Without him they are ab- 
solutely inexplicable. Without "the 
Lamb slain from the foundation of the 
world" the Old Testament is a mean- 

54 



THE SUPREME QUESTION 

ingless jumble, but with him it is "order 
and music and light. " 

Dr. Moorehead, of Xenia Theological 
School, returning from a long journey, 
brought a dissected map as a present 
for his children. He told them that 
when they had put it together they 
would have a good knowledge of the 
geography of North and South Amer- 
ica. The girls worked faithfully for a 
time. Then one of them became dis- 
couraged. She walked away saying, "I 
cannot put it together." Suddenly the 
older girl discovered a man's hand on 
the reverse side of one of the blocks. 
She turned over the others quickly, and, 
calling to her sister, she said, "Come 
back! There's a man on the other 
side." Their nimble fingers soon put 
the man together, and, turning the 
completed figure over, they found 
every lake and river and mountain 
range in its place. So when we, like 
Matthew, find the Divine Man in the 
Old Testament, everything else will 

55 



THE SUPEEME QUESTION" 

have its place. Then these ancient 
books will no longer seem a jumble of 
history and prophecy and exhortation, 
but will be a completed picture, ex- 
hibiting God's perfect plan through the 
ages. 

Saint Mark's Answer 

"What think ye of Christ?" looking 
at him from the standpoint of what he 
did? That was Saint Mark's view- 
point. If Saint Matthew's is the gospel 
of prophecy, Saint Mark's is the gospel 
of service. One half of this gospel is 
devoted to the miraculous works of 
Jesus. Nowhere else in the gospels is 
the majesty of Christ's life of service 
set forth so beautifully. In the very 
first chapter we find Jesus casting out 
evil spirits, healing Simon's wife's 
mother, and healing the leper. And 
this first chapter is a picture of the 
whole book. Indeed, here we are not 
only in the presence of miracles, but in 
the presence of "the Miracle of the 
Ages." 

56 



THE SUPEEME QUESTION 

But is he not just the same to-day? 
"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and 
to-day, and forever." What he did by 
the Sea of Galilee and in the streets of 
Jerusalem he is doing in our own day. 
Let the millions out of whom have been 
cast the demons of appetite and pas- 
sion and worldliness and blasphemy 
witness. Let the Christian institutions 
that have risen everywhere — hospitals 
for the sick, refuges for the oppressed, 
homes for the poor and aged, orphan- 
ages for little children, asylums for 
the unfortunate — let them all witness 
to the power of the Son of God. The 
witness of Saint Mark is the witness of 
the centuries. 

Saint Luke's Answer 

"What think ye of Christ?" looking 
at him from the standpoint of what he 
was? So Saint Luke looked at him. 
His gospel is a revelation of the char- 
acter of Christ. He brings forward 
many witnesses who give their testi- 

57 



THE SUPREME QUESTION" 

mony. We have the testimony of the 
angel who made the startling announce- 
ment to the shepherds, "There is born 
to you this day in the city of David a 
Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." 
There is the testimony of the heavenly 
choir who sang, "Glory to God in the 
highest!" The aged Simeon gives his 
testimony, 

A light for revelation to the Gentiles, 
And the glory of thy people Israel. 

Then comes the witness of the Baptist; 
and also the witness of the demon who 
cries, "Thou art the Son of God." God 
the Father bears witness to his Only 
Begotten: "Thou art my beloved Son; 
in thee I am well pleased." And 
Christ himself takes the witness stand, 
and, in the synagogue at Nazareth on 
the Sabbath day, reads from the 
prophet Isaiah : 

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, 

Because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings to 

the poor; 
He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives, 
58 



THE SUPEEME QUESTION 

And recovering of sight to the blind, 

To set at liberty them that are bruised, 

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. 

Then closing the book he declares, 
"To-day hath this scripture been ful- 
filled in your ears." Now, all this tes- 
timony may be found in the first four 
chapters. But a careful study of this 
wonderful gospel will disclose the fact 
that in almost every chapter Saint 
Luke brings forward some witnesses to 
the majesty of the character of Christ. 
Even his enemies give testimony to his 
innocence. The Jews, Pilate, Judas, 
are found on Luke's witness stand. 
Here are witnesses to his holiness, his 
humility, his forgiving power. What 
thoughtful man can read the gospel by 
Saint Luke and not be convinced that 
Jesus of Nazareth is the Divine Man? 

Saint John's Answer 

"What think ye of Christ?" looking 
at him from the standpoint of his 
lordship of life? This was Saint John's 

59 



THE SUPEEME QUESTION 

viewpoint. So, too, Paul looked at 
him. And "what's good enough for 
Paul," said Dr. Patton, of Princeton, 
"is good enough for me." The witness 
of Saint John is specially worthy of 
attention and study, for ninety-two 
per cent of the matter of this gospel is 
peculiar to Saint John, or given by 
him alone. According to John, Christ 
is the Logos. That was Plato's word, 
but to the old Greek philosopher the 
logos was "the reason, the shaping 
reality of all things." John gives it a 
Christian baptism: "In the beginning 
was the Word, and the Word was with 
God, and the Word was God. The 
same was in the beginning with God. 
All things were made through him; 
and without him was not anything 
made that hath been made. . . . And 
the Word became flesh, and dwelt 
among us (and we beheld his glory, 
glory as of the only begotten from the 
Father), full of grace and truth." In- 
deed, as someone has suggested, it 

60 



THE SUPREME QUESTION 

may be truthfully said that Greek 
philosophy, as well as Old Testament 
prophecy, had its fulfillment in Jesus 
Christ. All the problems that puzzled 
the old philosophers concerning life 
and immortality have their answer in 
Christ. 

Saint John's gospel is essentially the 
gospel of life. Forty-four times is that 
word life used here. "These things are 
written/ ' says John, "that ye may be- 
lieve that Jesus is the Christ, the Son 
of God: and that believing ye may 
have life in his name." In this gospel 
we have the sermon on the new birth; 
the sermon at the grave of Lazarus; 
the raising of Lazarus; and the resur- 
rection scene painted with such star- 
tling vividness. Indeed, every chapter 
of this blessed evangel emphasizes in 
some way the Lordship of Christ. 

Your Answer 

What think you of Christ? You have 
heard the voice of prophecy that 

61 



THE SUPEEME QUESTION 

through long centuries foretold with 
unmistakable clearness his coming, his 
life, and his work. You see what he 
did. He "built no temples, wrote no 
books, colonized no lands, yet he turned 
the world upside down," and left his 
signature so deeply written upon the 
world's pages that all civilization meas- 
ures time from his birth. You see his 
lordship of life. He "brought life and 
immortality to light through the gos- 
pel." He conquered death, and the 
grave could not hold him. What do 
you think of Christ? You are answer- 
ing this question now — answering it by 
the way you treat him. He said, 
"Whosoever shall be ashamed of me 
and of my words in this adulterous and 
sinful generation, the Son of man also 
shall be ashamed of him, when he 
cometh in the glory of his Father with 
the holy angels." You are either 
shaming Christ or glorifying him every 
day you live. You shame or glorify 
him in your business life, in your social 

62 



THE SUPREME QUESTION 

life, in your home life ; and your every- 
day treatment of Him who made the 
worlds and redeemed you with his 
blood is your answer to this supreme 
question. 



63 



THE INFALLIBLE GUIDEBOOK 



THE INFALLIBLE GUIDEBOOK 

"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? 
By taking heed thereto according to thy word." 

There is one guidebook that has no 
defects. Its information is absolutely 
reliable. And inasmuch as it is the 
guidebook for the journey from the 
cradle to the grave it is well that it 
makes no mistakes. For what more 
important travel than this? Life's 
ocean is beset wdth innumerable reefs 
and shoals, and should our chart be 
mistaken the voyage might end in 
eternal disaster. This guidebook is 
the Bible. For many centuries life's 
travelers have trusted its information, 
and not one who has followed its direc- 
tions has lost his way or met with 
mishap. 

Testimony 

Hear the testimony of the good and 
great concerning this guidebook: John 
Henry Newman said, "Its light is like 
the body of heaven in its clearness; 

67 



THE INFALLIBLE GUIDEBOOK 

its vastness like the bosom of the sea; 
its variety like scenes of nature." 
Michael Faraday, a prince among scien- 
tists, said, "Why will people go astray 
when they have this blessed Book to 
guide them?" And was it not John 
Milton who said, "There are no songs 
to be compared to the songs of Zion, 
no orations equal to those of the proph- 
ets, and no politics equal to those the 
Scriptures can teach us"? George Her- 
bert wrote : 

The Bible? That's the Book. The Book indeed, 

The Book of Books, 

On which who looks 
As he should do, aright, shall never need 

Wish for a better light 

To guide him in the night. 

Sir Isaac Newton gave this testimony: 
"We account the Scriptures of God to 
be the most sublime philosophy "; and 
Lord Macaulay said, "The English 
Bible is a book which, if everything 
else in our language should perish, 
would alone suffice to show the whole 
extent of its beauty and power. " Sir 

68 



THE INFALLIBLE GUIDEBOOK 

Walter Scott, who when dying asked 
for "the Book," wrote: 

Within this awful volume lies 
The mystery of mysteries: 
Happiest he of human race 
To whom God has given grace 
To read, to fear, to hope, to pray, 
To lift the latch, and learn the way; 
And better had he ne'er been born 
Who reads to doubt, or reads to scorn. 

Hall Caine bears witness to the Bible 
thus: "I think I know my Bible as few 
literary men know it. There is no 
book in the world like it, and the finest 
novels ever written fall far short in 
interest of any one of the stories it 
tells. Whatever strong situations I 
have in my books are not of my crea- 
tion, but are taken from the Bible." 
General U. S. Grant said: "Hold fast 
to the Bible as the sheet anchor to 
your liberties. Write its precepts in 
your hearts and practice them in your 
lives. To the influence of this book 
we are indebted for all the progress 
made in true civilization, and to this 
we must look as our guide in the fu- 

69 



THE INFALLIBLE GUIDEBOOK 

ture." And this is the testimony of 
John Wesley: "I am a creature of a 
day, passing through life as an arrow 
through the air. I am a spirit coming 
from God, and returning to God: just 
hovering over the great gulf; a few 
moments hence I am no more seen; I 
drop into an unchangeable eternity. I 
want to know one thing — the way to 
heaven : how to land safe on that happy 
shore. God himself has condescended 
to teach the way. He hath written it 
down in a book. O, give me that book ! 
At any price give me the book of God ! 
I have it : here is knowledge enough for 
me. Let me be a man of one book. 
Here, then, I am, far from the busy 
ways of men. I sit down alone; only 
God is here. In his presence I open, I 
read his book; for this end — to find the 
way to heaven." 

An Inspired Book 

The Bible is an inspired book. "Holy 
men of old spake as they were moved 

70 



THE INFALLIBLE GUIDEBOOK 

by the Holy Spirit." God is the author 
of all its messages. This is the only 
satisfactory way to account for the 
Bible. An eminent Bible scholar puts 
the argument like this: "The Bible 
must have been produced by good men 
or angels, by bad men or devils, or by 
God himself. Good men or angels 
could not have produced it, for they 
would not impose on men a fraud by 
claiming that it is a divine revelation; 
bad men or devils could not produce 
such a book, for it is obviously above 
their level in its moral and spiritual 
teachings; and hence the only alterna- 
tive is to accept it as ultimately of 
divine origin and authority." 

Much attention has been given re- 
cently to examination of ancient manu- 
scripts of the Bible, and to inquiries 
concerning their genuineness; and while 
the external evidences are ample to 
convince all reasonable men that the 
Bible is what it claims to be — the very 
Word of God — yet the evidences that 

71 



THE INFALLIBLE GUIDEBOOK 

in these days appeal most strongly to 
thoughtful men are the inner and 
spiritual. To have allowed our faith 
to rest on the mere external letter 
would have meant bondage. There is 
a nobler way — a more Godlike way. 
It is that we shall verify, each for him- 
self, the authority and inspiration of 
the divine message by the personal 
experimental method. This is the 
bulwark of Christian evidence that is 
absolutely impregnable. When it is 
daylight all about us what better evi- 
dence do we need that the sun is up? 
And when there breaks in upon the 
soul from the pages of the Scriptures 
the light of God what more convincing 
evidence do we need that God is speak- 
ing to us through his Word? 

Someone said, "It is not what we 
make of the Bible, but what the Bible 
makes of us, that matters." The in- 
spiration of the Bible is self-evidencing. 
There is an inherent something which 
gives majesty and authority to every 

72 



THE INFALLIBLE GUIDEBOOK 

message it contains, and appeals to the 
inner consciousness in a way which 
gives assurance of its divinity. 

Thy Word is everlasting truth; 

How pure is every page! 
That holy book shall guide our youth, 

And well support our age. 

When once it enters to the mind, 

It spreads such light abroad, 
The meanest souls instruction find, 

And raise their thoughts to God. 

A Heart Book 

The Bible is a heart book. To read 
it for the sake of its literary setting, or 
for the sake of its interesting historical 
information, or to have a knowledge of 
its general plan and character, is to 
miss the best of it. True, it has its ap- 
peal to the intellect, and there is no 
book that contains more stimulating 
thought for the human mind. But of all 
books it is the heart book. A little blind 
girl had received from a friend the gift 
of a New Testament with raised letters. 
And as she read it a new joy and hope 

73 



THE INFALLIBLE GUIDEBOOK 

came into her life such as she had never 
known. No wonder she prized the book 
above everything else she possessed. 
But there came a time when her fingers 
lost their acuteness of touch and she 
could no longer spell out the raised 
letters. She was almost heartbroken, 
but resolved to send the book that had 
been such a blessing to her to a little 
blind friend who could read it. She 
raised the open page to kiss it good-by 
when it dawned upon her that she 
could recognize the words with her 
lips. It was a joyous revelation. She 
would keep the book she loved so 
dearly and read it with her lips. And 
if we would know the wealth of wisdom 
and inspiration that God's Book con- 
tains we must bring it up close to the 
heart. We must read it with an open, 
loving heart. 

And herein is a very important dif- 
ference between the Bible and the so- 
called sacred books of the heathen 
world. Professor Max Mueller, who 

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THE INFALLIBLE GUIDEBOOK 

edited about fifty of these ancient 
books of heathen religions, says: "It 
is a problem to me how these sacred 
books of the East should contain so 
much that is not only unmeaning, arti- 
ficial, and silfy, but even hideous and 
repellent." Of the Brahmanas he says : 
"These works deserve to be studied as 
the physician studies the twaddle of 
idiots and the ravings of madmen, and 
we shall feel astonished that human 
language and human thought should 
ever be used for such purposes." But 
the Bible appeals always to the highest 
and best in man, and on every page 
bears the imprint of the finger of God. 
The best expositor of this heart book 
is the Holy Spirit. "But the Com- 
forter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the 
Father will send in my name, he shall 
teach you all things, and bring to your 
remembrance all that I said unto you." 
Those who have visited the great Mam- 
moth Cave in Kentucky will remember 
that great hall where stalagmite and 

75 



THE INFALLIBLE GUIDEBOOK 

stalactite like mighty pillars support 
the great dark dome. But there is 
always a sense of disappointment until 
the guide lights a piece of magnesium 
ribbon and throws it upward. Then the 
real glory of that magnificent subter- 
ranean palace appears. The pillars 
seem to be set with precious stones and 
the dome is ablaze with light. And 
they who seek to explore the pages of 
the Bible with "the dim torch of rea- 
son" will never see its real beauty. 
Not until the Holy Spirit sheds light 
upon the sacred page will its glory 
appear. 

An Immortal Book 

"The truth of the Lord endureth for- 
ever," said the psalmist. For eighteen 
hundred years it has been attacked, 
doubted, denied, and reviled; for eight- 
een hundred years some of the might- 
iest of the world's intellectual giants 
have been looking for flaws in its 
foundations. But scientists and phi- 
losophers, as well as vulgar assailants, 

76 



THE INFALLIBLE GUIDEBOOK 

have had to acknowledge that it is 
invulnerable. Other books crumble 
under the tread of the centuries, but 
this Book belongs not to time, but to 
eternity. Its foundations are sure. 
Said an old Buddhist priest of China 
to a Christian missionary: "And you 
are here with j^our Book ! I was yonder 
in the sacred island of the sea and I 
found you there with your Book. I 
was yonder on the far western border 
and I found you there with your Book. 
And now you are here in the very 
center of the empire. And the more I 
think about it the more I am persuaded 
that we are going and you are coming." 
He was right. This message from heav- 
en shall yet be heard in every darkened 
corner of earth, and all men shall know 
that God hath spoken. There are tw r o 
crowning lessons to this meditation: 

Mastery of the Word 

If the Bible is what it claims to be, 

and what we believe it to be — the very 

11 



THE INFALLIBLE GUIDEBOOK 

Word of God — should we not give 
more attention to its study than to any 
other book? "Ye shall know the 
truth," said Jesus, "and the truth shall 
make you free." But so many do not 
know God's Word. Every man may 
know the Bible if he will. Perhaps the 
most practical method of Bible study 
is that known as the "synthetic 
method." Dr. James M. Gray, in that 
excellent little book, How to Master 
the English Bible, has done much to 
encourage this plan of Bible study. 
He gives six simple rules: 1. Begin at 
the beginning. 2. Read the book. 
3. Read it continuously. 4. Read it 
repeatedly. 5. Read it independently. 
6. Read it prayerfully. This plan faith- 
fully followed from Genesis to Revela- 
tion will result in a consciousness of 
mastery of the Word such as can never 
be secured by the fragmentary study 
with which so many people seem to be 
contented. 

In these latter days we have heard 

) 78 

JJe... 



THE INFALLIBLE GUIDEBOOK 

much about the baneful influences of 
destructive criticism, but is it not just 
as wicked to neglect God's Word as to 
mutilate it? There is a story told of a 
young man who on leaving home for 
the theological school was given some 
good advice by his father. "Now, 
John/' said the old man, "don't let 
them take away your father's Bible 
from you. Beware of higher critics." 
When John returned his father ques- 
tioned him, and, to his great joy, found 
that his son was all right. Then John 
went abroad for two years of study. 
When he reached home again his father 
said, "John, I hope you have not al- 
lowed them to weaken your faith in 
the old Bible. What about Elisha's ax? 
Did it swim? And did the fish swallow 
Jonah?" "O, now, father," said John, 
quietly, "you do not mean to say that 
you still believe that story about 
Jonah?" The old man threw up his 
hands, horror-stricken. "O, John, you 
have forsaken your father's Bible. 

79 



THE INFALLIBLE GUIDEBOOK 

You have lost your faith I" "Father, be 
reasonable," said John. "What about 
Jonah? Who was he? Is he still in 
your Bible?" "Why, yes," said the 
old man, trembling with emotion. 
"Have you read about him lately, 
father? Get your Bible and show me 
where you find anything about Jonah." 
With considerable indignation the old 
man took down his Bible and began to 
turn over the leaves excitedly, but 
could not find Jonah. "Now, father," 
said John, "I may be wicked, but when 
I was home two years ago I took your 
Bible and cut out carefully the pages of 
Jonah, and you have never missed 
it." The father's face revealed a pe- 
culiar mental struggle for a few mo- 
ments. Then he said, "I see it, my 
boy. I am as bad as the higher critics. 
There has been no Jonah in my Bible 
for two years." Is not a neglected Bible 
as bad as a mutilated Bible? 



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THE INFALLIBLE GUIDEBOOK 

Obedience to the Word 

The second crowning lesson is obe- 
dience to the Word. "God hath 
spoken/ ' and when God speaks men 
should listen and obey. "Not every 
one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, 
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; 
but he that doeth the will of my Father 
which is in heaven" (Matt. 7. 21). In 
his Word, God has made known his 
will to us. He expects obedience. 

But love for God is necessary to im- 
plicit obedience. When we love him 
with all the heart, then obedience will 
become a delight, and he will take our 
poor stumbling efforts and turn them 
into real spiritual victories. There is 
an old legend which relates that in 
ancient Greece a prize was offered for 
the best statue of a certain god. In a 
little country village lived a devout 
young man who aspired to be a great 
sculptor. He secured a block of marble 
and began work on it. His ideal was 

81 



THE INFALLIBLE GUIDEBOOK 

high, but his clumsy fingers failed to 
bring out his conception of the god. 
The day arrived when the statues were 
to be judged. The young man brought 
his, but it was only a laughingstock. 
The would-be sculptor was deeply hu- 
miliated at his failure. But the god 
had pity on him. In an instant the 
statue seemed to be proudly raised and 
all the harsh lines fell into perfect 
symmetry and grace. Then criticism 
gave way to praise and honor. So 
when we love Him, in the midst of our 
failures he will work in us "to will and 
to do, for his good pleasure," and, 
through obedience to his Word, our 
character shall take on his likeness. 



82 



MEN'S EXCUSES 



MEN'S EXCUSES 

"And they all with one consent began to make excuse." 

Of those who are not Christians there 
are two classes. The first is made up 
of the desperately wicked. They have 
thrown a loose rein to passion and ap- 
petite, and have let sin have its own 
way in them. And when sin has its 
own way it does not take long to do its 
deadly work. In a very short time 
sin will blacken and blast and destroy 
the most promising life. The wages of 
sin is always death. Someone has pub- 
lished a book in which are fifty pictures 
each bearing such a close resemblance 
to the one immediately preceding that 
the keenest eye can scarcely detect any 
difference. Yet the first picture is a 
beautiful aphrodite, and the fiftieth is 
a grinning monkej^. A transformation 
is going on in human character every 
day, and, though it may be scarcely 
discernible, yet sin is surely doing its 

85 



MEN'S EXCUSES 

work. When there is no restraint the 
picture will be finished speedily. "And 
the sin, when it is full-grown, bringeth 
forth death. " 

Almost Christians 

The second class is made up of men 
who have had the restraints of a Chris- 
tian home, and of the church and 
Sunday school. They have had pray- 
ing fathers and mothers, and have 
been surrounded with Christian in- 
fluences from birth. They have not 
gone into the grosser vices, but have 
lived morally. One of these came to 
Jesus once and said he had kept all 
the commandments from his youth. 
But Jesus said, "One thing thou lack- 
est." These men believe the Christian 
life to be the right life to live, yet they 
do not live it. They are almost in the 
kingdom, but not in. And they are in 
just as much danger of "the wrath to 
come" as those of the first class. In- 
deed, it may be that their eternal re- 

86 



MEN'S EXCUSES 

morse will be greater. They were al- 
most saved yet altogether lost. Now, 
these are they who are constantly ex- 
cusing themselves. 

No Feeling 

Some excuse themselves for not being 
Christians by saying that they "do not 
feel like it." They wait for some phys- 
ical manifestation of need. There is 
no greater deception, for the physical 
feelings are no indication of our spirit- 
ual need. Often, the less feeling, the 
greater danger, and so, the greater 
need. A man may be in extreme peril 
and yet have no physical sense of 
need. Indeed, the physical feelings 
may sometimes indicate or suggest the 
very opposite of what we ought to do. 
Egerton Ryerson Young, the great mis- 
sionary of the Northwest, was once 
overtaken by a terrible blizzard. He 
struggled on through the snow hoping 
to reach a shelter. But soon he was 
conscious of a physical condition he 

87 



MEN'S EXCUSES 

had not known before. Every snow- 
bank seemed like a restful couch upon 
which he wanted to lie down and sleep, 
and the air about him seemed to be 
surcharged with strains of sweetest 
music. It was only by supreme effort 
of will that he roused himself to press 
on through the storm, and at last came 
to a place of safety. So sin dulls the 
moral sensibility and makes us un- 
conscious of danger. "There is a way 
that seemeth right unto a man, but the 
end thereof are the ways of death. " 
And when our feet are once set in this 
way of death, not by following any 
physical inclination but only by a 
supreme effort of the will shall we 
escape to the house of mercy. 

Preconceptions 

Others excuse themselves because of 
some preconceived notion concerning 
the method of getting into the king- 
dom. They say, "I expect to be a 
Christian; but when I am converted it 



MEN'S EXCUSES 

will be like this, or like that." The 
old Syrian general furnishes a good 
illustration of this class. He was a 
great man but a leper. He went down 
to Israel to find the prophet of God. 
But before he reached the prophet's 
house he had the plans all arranged as 
to what would be done and how it 
would be done. He supposed the man 
of God would lay his hand upon him 
and say, "Be thou clean," and it would 
be done. But Elisha had a different 
program. He sent out his servant to 
tell the great man that if he would 
wash in Jordan seven times he would 
be healed. Whereupon Naaman be- 
came angry and started for his home 
saying, "Behold, I thought, He will 
surely come out to me, and stand, and 
call on the name of the Lord his God, 
and strike his hand over the place, and 
recover the leper. Are not Abana and 
Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better 
than all the waters of Israel? may I not 
wash in them, and be clean?" And he 

89 



MEN'S EXCUSES 

doubtless would have died a leper had 
not his friends persuaded him to do as 
Elisha had bidden him do. He dipped 
in Jordan seven times and was healed. 
And when will men learn that when 
they come to God asking for mercy and 
healing of soul they must put aside 
their own prejudices and notions, and 
be willing to receive as it pleaseth him 
to give? 

Pride of Heart 

And others who are very near the 
kingdom of grace are kept out by 
pride of heart. They say, "I expect to 
be a Christian, but I will not stand up 
to ask for prayer; I will not go into an 
inquiry meeting; I will not make pub- 
lic confession." People do not wish to 
be known as seekers after God. There 
is no surer indication of pride of heart. 
Only the humble and contrite of heart 
will find mercy. Mr. Moody used to 
tell about a man who in a certain 
meeting expressed a desire to be a 
Christian but refused to go into the 

90 



MEN'S EXCUSES 

inquiry meeting, saying, "If God wants 
to save me he can save me here." 
That night on his way home he was 
thrown from a carriage and fatally in- 
jured. Next day when Mr. Moody 
called to see him he said, "Take me to 
the inquiry room, Mr. Moody." Mr. 
Moody tried to persuade him that God 
could save him in his own room, but he 
said, "No. I had a controversy with 
God last night, and I said, 'I will not go/ 
Now I must go to that inquiry room if 
I am saved." When face to face with 
death his proud heart had yielded. 

Have Tried Before 

Of all the excuses inspired by the 
evil one this is the most foolish. A 
man says, "I know it is right to be a 
Christian, but I tried once and failed, 
and I am afraid to try again." Yet 
there may be found in every com- 
munity men who at some time or other 
have made a start in the Christian life 
and failed to go forward, and who now 

91 



MEN'S EXCUSES 

make this excuse for living without 
God. The Bible says, "A just man 
falleth seven times, and riseth up 
again." But this does not mean that 
a man must fall seven times. It does 
mean that when the just man — the 
manly man — falls he does not stay 
down; he gets up and tries again. Is 
not that the manly way in every de- 
partment of life? Besides, what man 
need fall who trusts in God? Is he 
not able to deliver? He he not said, 
"My grace is sufficient for thee"? Is 
not victory assured to every man who 
will watch and pray? "The angel of 
the Lord encampeth round about them 
that fear him, and delivereth them." 
God sends his angels to camp about 
every man who has yielded his life to 
him. 

Which of the monarchs of the earth 

Can boast a guard like ours? 
Encircled from our second birth 

With all the heavenly powers. 

If we have fallen it is because we have 
trusted the arm of flesh rather than 

92 



MEN'S EXCUSES 

the Omnipotent arm: we have for- 
gotten that the one imperial legion is 
mightier than all the hosts of hell. Or 
it is because we have compromised 
with sin and the world instead of being 
out and out for God. The devil likes 
no better mark than a half-hearted, in- 
different professing Christian. 

Undervalue the Spiritual 

There are those who put all the em- 
phasis upon this earthly life. The 
material and transient are ever before 
them, while the spiritual and eternal 
are neglected. They say, "I expect to 
become a Christian some day, but not 
until I get settled in life," or "not until 
I get a bank," or "not until I get an 
education." They assure us that this 
important matter will be attended to, 
but not until they have gotten a com- 
petency for this life. And they seem 
never to think that while they are 
seeking the bank or the store or the 
education the summons may come to 

93 



MEN'S EXCUSES 

leave this world. Neither do they seem 
to know that while they seek the things 
of earth the devil is busy setting traps 
for their feet and forging chains for 
their bondage. There are multitudes of 
men to-day who in earlier life could not 
have been persuaded that they would 
not become Christians when they had 
reached life's maturity, but who now 
seldom stand inside a church and have 
little or no regard for the most sacred 
things of the Christian religion. 
Through constant excusings they have 
drifted into hardness of heart and in- 
difference of life. 

Mark Guy Pearse tells of a party of 
huntsmen who sat on a mountainside 
in the Highlands of Scotland eating 
their noonday lunch, when one of their 
number called the attention of his 
companions to a sheep that stood on 
the sheer edge of a precipice on the 
mountain just across the valley. They 
all turned their glasses on the sheep, 
saying, "How did it get down there?" 

94 



MEN'S EXCUSES 

Then one of the men, who was ac- 
quainted with the habits of sheep in 
the mountains, explained that the 
sheep was once back on the tableland, 
but coming over the mountain had 
seen a little green grass on a ledge of 
rock and had jumped down to get it; 
then, not finding it easy to get back, 
had been tempted by another tuft of 
grass to jump down on the next ledge. 
It had kept going down until now it 
stood on the very edge of the per- 
pendicular rock. "Now what will it 
do?" said the men. "Now the eagles 
will swoop down on it," said the hunter, 
"and, driven to desperation by hunger 
and fright, it will leap over the preci- 
pice and be dashed to pieces on the 
rocks below." That is a picture of 
many a man who seeks the things of 
the world and leaves God out. He 
keeps stepping down from the table- 
land of manhood, and comes at last to 
the precipice, and life ends in tragedy 
and darkness. 



BETRAYING CHRIST 



BETRAYING CHRIST 

4 'Woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is 
betrayed.' 1 

Judas Iscariot repented of his 
crime and then went out and hanged 
himself. But every Judas does not 
hang himself. There are those who 
betray their Lord now and with brazen 
face still profess to be his followers. 
Indeed^ it may be possible to outdo 
Iscariot in crime and be more guilty 
than he; for Jesus said, "Whosoever 
speaketh a word against the Son of 
man, it shall be forgiven him: but 
whosoever speaketh against the Holy 
Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, 
neither in this world, neither in the 
world to come." 

Love of Money 

Some betray Christ now for love of 
money. Thej^ sell Christ to the highest 
bidder. Once a woman came with a 

99 



BETRAYING CHRIST 

pound of ointment of pure nard, very 
precious, and anointed the feet of 
Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. 
But Judas said, "Why was not this 
ointment sold for three hundred shil- 
lings, and given to the poor? Now 
this he said, not because he cared for 
the poor; but because he was a thief, 
and having the bag took away what 
was put therein.' 7 And are there not 
men to-day who always devise econ- 
omy and great caution in the temporal 
affairs of the church, not because they 
love the church, but because the plans 
for a new church building, or for an in- 
crease in the pastor's salary, may mean 
an increase in the sum they would be 
expected to subscribe? Like Ananias, 
who also belonged to the tribe of Judas, 
they are keeping back part of the Lord's 
money; and to conceal their theft they 
plead for economy. They betray Christ 
in that for love of money they hinder 
his work and shame his church. 

And he who betrays Christ soon be- 

100 



BETRAYING CHRIST 

trays himself. All his higher manhood 
feels the paralyzing touch of covetous- 
ness. In New Zealand a curious speci- 
men has been found. A seed is swal- 
lowed and becomes lodged in the folds 
of a caterpillar's neck. When the in- 
sect burrows in the ground the seed 
begins to grow, absorbs the entire 
animal substance, and actually fills out 
the caterpillar's skin with solid woody 
fiber, while the plant grows from the 
folds in the neck. This is a picture of 
many a man who has professed to be a 
follower of Christ. The desire for 
riches has so absorbed his time and 
thought that there is nothing left but 
the skin of an empty profession. He 
has sold his Lord. 

False Friendship 

Others betray Christ by false friend- 
ship. They claim to be his friends. 
They pay compliments to Christ and 
patronize him. As Joseph Parker says, 

"They damn him with faint praise." 

101 



BETRAYING CHRIST 

They say he was a good man. But 
they dishonor him by denying his 
Sonship, and the efficacy of his atone- 
ment. They make light of the great 
fact that Christ shed his blood for the 
sins of the world. These are they 
spoken of by the author of the Epistle 
to the Hebrews when he says, "Of 
how much sorer punishment, think ye, 
shall he be judged worthy, who hath 
trodden under foot the Son of God, and 
hath counted the blood of the covenant, 
wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy 
thing, and hath done despite unto the 
Spirit of grace?" They affect friend- 
ship for Christ, yet they dethrone him : 
for "a Christ without a cross is a king 
without a throne." But there can be 
no real love and devotion to Christ 
without an interest in his atoning blood. 
Jesus said, "The Son of man is come to 
give his life a ransom for many"; and 
whosoever shall make light of the cross 
and the shed blood of the Son of God, 
yet claim to be his friend, is a betrayer. 

102 



BETRAYING CHRIST 

When Jesus stood before Pilate, and 
the bloodthirsty mob cried, "Let him 
be crucified/ ' Pilate at first tried to 
protect Christ; but when he "saw that 
he prevailed nothing, but rather that 
a tumult was arising, he took water, 
and washed his hands before the mul- 
titude, saying, I am innocent of the 
blood of this righteous man; see ye to 
it. . . . Then released he unto them 
Barabbas; but Jesus he scourged and 
delivered to be crucified." He pre- 
tended friendship and declared that 
Jesus was innocent, yet scourged him 
and delivered him to the murderers. 
But was Pilate worse than some who, 
to-day, profess friendship for the Son 
of God, yet, when persecution comes, 
or their own selfish interests are likely 
to suffer, they have no courage to de- 
fend the One whom they profess to 
love? 

Compromise 

Some betray him by compromise. 
They want to serve Christ and, at the 

103 



BETRAYING CHRIST 

same time, the world. They seem to 
forget that Jesus said, "Ye cannot 
serve God and mammon.' ' They would 
like to be known as his followers, yet 
they still live the worldly life. They 
speak good words for Christ, and then 
betray him by their deeds. They 
would be called Christians, yet they 
live and do as the people of the world 
do. There is no form of betrayal more 
cruel than this. Indeed, there is no 
blasphemy more terrible than mis- 
representation of God by professed 
disciples, professing to have a love for 
his kingdom and yet in their lives 
showing anything but loyalty and de- 
votion. What shall be said of a man 
who comes into your home, claims to 
be your friend and helper, is given the 
hospitality, confidence, and affection of 
your home, yet when he goes out 
among other people betrays that con- 
fidence and affection by deeds and 
words that bring dishonor and disgrace 
upon the home where he had been so 

104 



BETRAYING CHRIST 

kindly received? And what shall be 
said of a man who comes into the 
church of Christ and claims to be a 
Christian, yet in his daily life fre- 
quents those places, and engages in 
those forms of amusement that are 
directly contrary to the spirit and 
teaching of the church in which he has 
found a home, and at whose altars he 
has taken the most solemn vows? 
Surely he is a betrayer. 

When a man compromises with sin 
he becomes a stumbling-block in the 
way of others. And Jesus said, "Whoso 
shall cause one of these little ones that 
believe on me to stumble, it is prof- 
itable for him that a great millstone 
should be hanged about his neck, and 
that he should be sunk in the depth 
of the sea." A man who was super- 
intendent of a Sunday school in a little 
country church went to a neighboring 
city on business. He found it neces- 
sary to remain in the city overnight. 
As he sat in his hotel he said to him- 

105 



BETKAYING CHRIST 

self, "Now, nobody knows me here and 
I might as well go down to a theater 
and spend the evening." He made his 
way down the street to a cheap theater 
and went in. But it so happened that 
a young man who was a member of his 
Sunday school in the country, and who 
had come to the city a few days before, 
seeking employment, was standing on 
the street watching the crowds pour 
into the theater. He had not thought 
of going in himself, having been taught 
that a true Christian should never be 
found in such places. But when he 
saw the man who was his Sunday 
school superintendent come down the 
street and pass in, he said, "Well, there 
can surely be no harm for me." He 
stepped up to the window, bought a 
ticket, and passed in. That night at 
the theater was the beginning of a 
downward career. He fell into the 
wrong kind of company. He began to 
neglect the services of the church. 
Then soon he was drinking and in- 

106 



BETRAYING CHRIST 

dulging in the baser passions. Some 
j^ears afterward he was brought back 
to the old home in the country in a 
dying condition as a result of dissipa- 
tion. When the family saw that he 
could not live someone suggested send- 
ing for a minister. But it w r as six miles 
to the town and he might not live until 
the minister came. Then they sent 
across the fields for the Sunday school 
superintendent. He came. But as he 
entered the room the j^oung man 
seemed to surmise why he had come, 
and throwing up his hand he said, "Go 
away, go away! Do not talk to me 
about my soul. I am lost. I w T as a 
Christian but you threw me off the 
track. Go away!" And he would not 
hear a word from him. Is it not an 
awful thing to turn a soul aside from 
the path of right? Yet he who com- 
promises with siii is sure to do this. 
Thus he betrays his Lord. 



107 



BETRAYING CHRIST 

Silence 

Some betray him by silence. To a 
young man, who was starting for the 
lumber woods of Michigan, a friend 
said, "Now, John, you will find many 
godless men about you who will make 
all manner of sport of you for being a 
Christian, but you must endure perse- 
cution and be true to Christ." When 
John returned his friend said, "Well, 
how did you get along? What did those 
fellows say when they found out you 
were a Christian?" "Found out?" said 
John; "why, they didn't find out. I 
lived so that they never suspected me 
of being a Christian." But is there not 
many a man who so betrays his 
Lord? Jesus said, "Whosoever shall be 
ashamed of me and of my words in 
this adulterous and sinful generation, 
the Son of man also shall be ashamed 
of him when he cometh in the glory of 
his Father with the holy angels." 
Perhaps this is the most shameful and 

108 



BETEAYIN6 CHEIST 

dangerous betrayal of all — the betrayal 
of silence. The brazenness of infidelity 
is nothing to this. To know that 
Christ is God and King of kings; to 
know that he is worthy the homage 
of our hearts and voices, and yet re- 
fuse it, that is the climax of wickedness. 
A mother found it necessary to leave 
her baby boy in the cradle at home 
while she went to a neighbor's house 
on an errand. Returning she saw 
flames bursting from the windows of 
her home. She rushed up to the house 
and was about to enter when the peo- 
ple who had gathered pulled her back, 
sa}dng that it would be certain death to 
go in. But she broke away from them, 
made her way through flame and smoke 
to the cradle, wrapped some blankets 
about the baby, and carried him out. 
The child was unhurt, but the mother 
w T as dreadfully burned. For many 
weeks she was near death. When she 
did recover she was all scarred and 
crippled. Sixteen years afterward, 

109 * 



BETEAYING CHRIST 

walking along the street with some 
gay companions, that boy met his 
mother; but he passed without a look 
of recognition, being ashamed to let 
his companions know that this crippled 
old woman was his mother. So thou- 
sands treat Jesus Christ. He gave his 
life for us. All the blessings of a 
Christian civilization we owe to him. 
Yet some are ashamed to speak his 
name or confess him as their Saviour. 
They hide their profession under in- 
different and cruel silence. 

Jesus, and shall it ever be, 
A mortal man ashamed of thee? 
Ashamed of thee, whom angels praise, 
Whose glories shine through endless days? 

Ashamed of Jesus! yes, I may, 
When I've no guilt to wash away; 
No tear to wipe, no good to crave, 
No fears to quell, no soul to save. 



110 



MJi 39 \90d> 



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